6 semi-trailers of good news

In a pretty glum year for newspapers, a little dab of hope was delivered to the Times Union this summer in “literally thousands of pieces.”

Over about four months, those pieces were assembled into a nearly two-story, computer-driven machine that inserts glossy advertisements into newspaper sections.

This equipment, which stretches just shy of a football field, brings a new era for the back end of our production at a time when newspapers including this one have been suffering advertising, circulation and other revenue losses.

Here, Lori Van Buren, a Times Union photographer, shows Times Union employee Matt Heeran as he monitors inserts proceeding through the strapping process.

With this machine, according to Dan Couto, our operations director, the Times Union can not only insert those Black Friday advertisements more efficiently, it can bring in new revenue by accomplishing this task for other newspapers. Already, the machine is taking on the inserts for four Connecticut newspapers – part of the Hearst Corp. family.

Here, Lori Van Buren shows the first Times Union comics being run on the new machine at the Albany Shaker Road building in Colonie. Sunday’s newspapers will have these inserts.

“The accuracy of this machine is far beyond our old insert machine,” Couto said, explaining that the level of manufacturing data that is tracked is much more precise than the older technology.

Here, Lori Van Buren shows Times Union employees, George Phillips, left, and Joe Parent monitor one of the computer readouts on the new machine that help with that newly found precision.

But that’s just the dollars and sense part of the equation. And while, yes, new revenue for a struggling industry is important, I couldn’t help but be enthralled at the effect a recent demonstration of the machine had on the people who work here.

One by one, people from the newsroom, advertising, circulation, business, marketing and, of course, the production crew wound their way around the machine’s home – a refurbished chamber of the building.

Here, Lori Van Buren shows Times Union employee Mark Rockwell monitoring the comics that are being inserted into this Sunday’s newspaper. The image shows how bright the new workspace is.

For employees who watched, they saw an insert process that goes – basically – like this:

Individual inserts are fed on any of the 28 inserting heads, these devices drop one at a time into a newspaper section known as a jacket. That means up to 30 people at a peak time like pre-Thanksgiving would be needed to monitor the stacks of inserts and newspaper sections.

Stuffed sections then are grabbed by mechanical clips (named grippers) that wind farther along the room to a station where they are stacked and then strapped for the final step.

Strapped sections then travel along a short conveyor belt to an enclosed station (called a palletizer) where they are dropped on a pallet that, when filled, is automatically shrink-wrapped for transport.

Historically, the press and its back-end have been dingy, dimly lit manufacturing operations. But this new machine’s headquarters has stark white walls to reflect the bright, new lighting and a high ceiling that eliminates the claustrophobic effect of the former machine’s home.

Here, Dan Couto shows an installer with ML Erectors out of Cleveland, OH, in early August working to assemble the first section of the inserter. From disassembly in California to a running machine here, it has taken more than 6,000 man hours to finish the work.

“What we wanted, and what we have now, is a positive work environment where we moved from what felt like a warehouse-storage space to a high-end manufacturing environment,” Couto said. “These seemingly small changes are important for our employees.”

Couto orchestrated this. After coming to work here from the San Francisco Chronicle about 18 months ago, he started looking to upgrade these operations. So, when San Francisco shifted its printing operation to a third-party, he started working to acquire its insert machine.

Here, Dan Couto shows the thousands of parts that were removed, labeled and shipped from Union City, CA, to here. The project started in mid-July in California; equipment arrived here early August; and the installation was completed mid-September. The company orchestrating the move and installation was IES out of LaGrange, GA. Computer and mechanical setup and adjustments took another month. Live product started running on the machine the middle of this month.

Fast forward to May when Couto went to visit San Francisco and conclude negotiations for the equipment. “We bid out the work to break down the machine into, literally, thousands of pieces that were loaded onto six semi-trailers and arrived on our dock Aug. 1.” Gerry Potter, the Times Union’s facilities manager, was onsite in San Francisco to supervise the disassembly, loading and the communication with all parties involved.

Here, Dan Couto shows John Stoddard, left, a Times Union electrician, and Gerry Potter, Times Union facilities manager, working to wire a counter stacker in mid- September.

Couto gives the credit to getting the machine installed and running in such a short period of time to, “the dedicated Operations staff here at the Times Union, including our facilities team, machinists, electricians, mailers, receiving, press and prepress. They all made it possible. There was a spirit of cooperation with this group that is just awesome!”

Here, Dan Couto shows what had to be moved to make room for the entire machine. Inserts were moved to a renovated space that had a previous use and newsprint was moved to the end of the press bay. We used to keep more than two weeks’ worth of paper on site. Now, we keep about 4 days and receive what’s called “just-in-time” inventory from our paper mills. During a normal week, we run 285 rolls of varying widths — if you stretched all of these rolls from end to end, you could reach Cleveland, OH, every week.

Over the last couple of weeks, the machine has been in testing. The inserts you hold Sunday will have been handled by this equipment. And Couto expects it to be fully operational by the holidays.

“I’m really excited for us to have this machine,” Couto said. “Not only does it allow us to run more efficiently but it also will produce a cleaner product.”

Here, Lori Van Buren shows Times Union employee Bill Cramer moves inserts from the palletizer to the loading dock. The final step of the process.

Times Union employee Matt Heeran monitors inserts as they proceed through the strapping process.